In Search of Hope in Latinx Tenure Track and Tenured Faculty in Higher Education
Date
2021-12
Authors
Cantu, Raul
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Abstract
The problem this study addressed is the disproportionate percentage of Latinx faculty in U.S. universities compared to the percentage of Latinx people in the U.S. population. The purpose of the study was to examine the strength of the relationships between the demographic characteristics and varying levels of demonstrated hope in a sample of tenured, and tenure-track Latinx professors. The Hope Scale Survey was used to measure hope levels by asking Latinx professors to numerically rank their level of agentic thinking and pathways planning. A questionnaire was used to numerically analyze the relationships between professors’ hope levels and their demographic characteristics. The Hope Scale model was also tested with confirmatory factor analysis to examine the strengths between the model’s latent variables, agency and pathways thinking, and the theory’s construct of hope. The descriptive statistics analysis results of the surveys revealed that the measures of agency or goal directed thinking, and pathways thinking were higher for women. Men’s hope levels varied more than women’s scores. The results also showed that older Latinx professors were more hopeful than the younger participants observed in this study The CFA results of this study indicated that the data acquired from the Hope Scale Survey questions regarding agency and pathways thinking are statistically significant and linked to hope levels. Understanding hope levels in Latinx professors may help inform doctoral program policymakers and other interested program advocates. This type of awareness may help in the decision-making process as it pertains to the support of Latinx professors.
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Keywords
Hope, Latinx faculty, Confirmatory factor analysis
Citation
Cantu, R. (2021). <i>In search of hope in Latinx tenure track and tenured faculty in higher education</i> (Unpublished dissertation). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.